Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 111,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,593 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $7,709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EQR. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Equity Residential by 679.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 594,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,528,000 after acquiring an additional 518,424 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the second quarter valued at approximately $343,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 119,256 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.7% in the second quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 23,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter valued at $375,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on EQR. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.62.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $78.08 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $29.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $78.11.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The firm had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft.